Month: February 2017

I simply wasn’t watching enough television. So, of course, I had to start watching 3 other pilots. Well, 2 actually. I have already finished the 10 episodes of “Good Behavior”. And I have written and published an extremely long review that you can find here.

Anyway, I wanted to do this properly… Start in September (what I love to call “Pilot Season”) and review a lot of new tv shows. But I was dealing with life (ew), so I couldn’t do it!

But yesterday I was like: “Let’s watch some new stuff!”.

Impostors

Through “This is Us”‘s twitter account, I found this new show “Impostors” about a con artist that tricks men into marrying her and then robs them of everything they own.

If you’re expecting an intense drama, this is not it. They say it’s a rom-com, but frankly, it’s just strange.

I’ve never watched a series by BRAVO, so I was really curious to see what they are choosing to broadcast. Rob Heaps plays Ezra Bloom (who looks similar to his namesake on Pretty Little Liars, Ezra Fitz. If you know what I mean…) and his character is married to beautiful Belgian Eva (played by Inbar Lavi).

She turns out to be a con artist with a history of robbing her husbands. After the first couple of minutes, I already had the feeling something bad was going to happen. I knew basically nothing about the show. It reminded me of the movie “The Best Offer“.

There were some REALLY predictable things, like the anklet bracelet Eva didn’t take off after running away and changing her appearance. Also, out of the blue, a guy appears at Ezra’s doorstep claiming to be Eva’s (or as he knows her “Alice”) husband.

And he didn’t make a good impression. I didn’t like the acting or the character’s personality and the stupid and useless banter he gets into with Ezra.

And then there’s Ezra assistant… “I have an idea… What if we get totally hammered?” Oh, honey… I get that you want to sleep with him. Just don’t make it so obvious. Also, Ezra, are you REALLY sleeping with another woman and basically asking her to pretend to be your wife? That is messed up.

And do I even have to mention Ezra saying: “facial recognition software.” Really?! Really?! Come on. Who are you, the FBI? *eye roll*

One thing that I absolutely loved, was the german tutorial on how to tie a rope to kill yourself. That was fun.

Overall: 6.5/10

The Catch

Shonda Rhimes is probably the Queen of ABC’s Thursday night TV schedule. With Grey’s Anatomy going relatively (very relatively) strong into its 13th season, “Scandal” with its 6th season (I stopped watching after mid-season 4) and “How To Get Away With Murder”‘s shocking revelations (watched 20 minutes of the pilot. I was bored.), she is very popular.

“The Catch” is her newest project. Despite only being involved in the production aspects of it, this show took Scandal’s place when it went on hiatus.

Coincidentally, this show is similar to “Impostors”.

The main character Alice Vaughan is the victim of fraud by her fiancé and she is determined to find him.

When I chose these shows, I really had no idea they were so similar. Well, it could be interesting to see the two different ways a similar plot can be executed.

Right from the first scene, it reminded me of White Collar, with a less attractive main character. Sorry, but Matt Bomer is insuperable.

Mireille Enos (Alice) had a familiar face, but I couldn’t remember why! Aside from the fact that she reminds me of Abby from Scandal, she was in Gangster Squad, a brilliant movie with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin.

She is like a white, red-haired Olivia Pope with less amazing outfits and no white coats.

Moreover, they put a Pitbull song as part of the soundtrack. No. No. And no. I also wasn’t a fan of the editing: there were too many split screens, a lot of editing and images overlapping and especially at the beginning, everything happened too quickly. And let’s not mention the over dramatization of the entire thing. 🙄🙄

BUT, I loved how diverse and multi-racial the cast was! Finally!

Also, there’s a guy called Seth Hamilton in the episode and every time they mentioned him, I kept thinking of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical! And for minutes after that, I kept singing in my head: “I am not throwing away my shot! Hey, yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry…” I have been obsessed for months.

Not bad, but…. meh.

Overall: 7/10

The thing about watching these show is that I want to know what’s going to happen! If the show is really really bad, in a blink of an eye it’s gone. I won’t even remember it.

But if it’s watchable or had flaws that can be easily ignored but I wouldn’t spend my time watching it, I still have the feeling of incompleteness! And it bothers me!

Concluding this quick review, I don’t think I’ll be watching these shows. And if I do it’ll be because I’m desperate and I’m tired of watching re-runs of other shows.

Let me know if you’ve seen these shows or if you have something to recommend me.

I’ve known about this show for a long time but I was so busy with other shows, tutoring, university and more.

I have browsed through a couple of TV shows broadcast on TNT and I wasn’t very impressed. I didn’t have high expectations. None at all.

“Good Behavior” is about a thief and con artist called Letty. She has just come out of prison and she is struggling to survive. But when she overhears a conversation between a hit man and his client, she finds herself in a dangerous situation. She begins a toxic and complicated relationship with Javier, the handsome trained killer. On top of that, she wants to regain custody of her son, now in the cares of her crazy mother.

THE SHOW IS SO ADDICTIVE! I loved the relationship between Letty and Javier! It’s the perfect passionate love story between two people who have both done horrible and horrific things. It’s intriguing, real and really sexy… 😉

And what I love about it is that it’s not sugar coated. It’s raw, imperfect and weird. Letty’s problems with drugs, alcohol and a restraining order add up to her very sexually charged relationship with Javier.

I was also very surprised with the themes of the show, especially about the drinking, the drugs and the sex. There are a lot of sex scenes (of which I’m not really fond of. Not because I’m a prude, but hear me out: think about how embarrassing it must be to film those scenes! There are people watching them, cameras and… It makes me squirm so bad!)

Anyway, I want to talk about Javier… I REALLY like his character… even more than Letty. There was maybe a little bit too much crying from Dockery’s part (and I’m the one talking… I cry every 5 minutes), but I kind of get it. She is a recovering alcoholic (and she is not succeeding), had a drug abuse problem and she is also trying to be a mother for the child that she barely knows. Speaking of her adorable son, Jacob is the best. As a 10-year-old, he is very sharp and observant and probably knows too much about his mother’s messy affairs.

Also… Take a moment to look at Javier. 😎😍

He is a horrible human being, he kills people for a living. People pay him to kill whoever his client wants to get rid of. He is a murderer. But at the same time, he has principles, and an etiquette and there are lines that he won’t cross. He is a complex character, with a deep love for his estranged family and an adorable softer side. And did I mention that he is gorgeous? And has a psychotic and violent side? Let’s not forget about that.

Also, FBI agent Rhonda Lashever was everything! I laughed so much whenever she was in a scene! LOVED HER!!! I definitely hope she’s going to be back for season 2! Oh yeah! TNT renewed it for a second season! Yay!

I was actually surprised by TNT. I’ve seen other TV shows from this network and in comparison they were crap. Sorry TNT, but I was NOT impressed.

And I have to admit that I also wasn’t impressed with “Good Behavior” at the beginning. I follow Michelle Dockery on Instagram and I knew about the show since she announced it on her account and I watch the trailer when it came out.

But I thought it was the same boring and “glossy” series in which they want to convince you that it’s serious, intense and HBO-worthy, but it’s really just a fake, over-dramatised and insufferable copy of high-quality show. And I was so glad I was wrong.

There are only two things that I wasn’t into: Michelle Dockery’s American accent and the music. Maybe it’s because I’ve only known her from Downton Abbey and heard her speak in a posh British accent for hours, but I didn’t really like. I could tell she was faking it. And it kind of bothered me. And the music… I thought it was well-suited for the tone of the show, but personally, I didn’t particularly like it. Too techno.

So counterbalance these slightly negative aspects, I’d like to mention my favourite episode: episode 7 “The Ballad of Little Santino.”. It was BRUTAL. I really loved it, but it was hard to watch.

It was just sooo real!

Lately, I’ve been noticing that fantasy is coming back as genre in TV and movies. And I’m not super thrilled about it. Well, I’m not happy at all. Really not happy. And it was so refreshing seeing something like this. I finished it in a week and I literally can’t wait to see the next season.

If you’re a fan of crime, complex and broken characters and a complicated relationship, this is the show for you.

I definitely recommend it and hope that you’ll let me know your thoughts if you’ve seen the show!

Georgia 🙂

P.S. Did I mention the amount of wigs that there are in this show! Hilarious!

When a TV show has a nice and catchy theme, it’s always more enjoyable. At least for me, it is.

Here I have collected my favourite themes, songs that I actually listen to and I have on my phone.

Homeland

Composed by Sean Callery, Homeland’s theme is stunning. If you’re into jazz, this is exactly the song for you. This was inspired by polish trumpeter Tomasz Stankò, whose music was used multiple times on the show.In every single season, the theme changes. The main title is a mashup of scenes and dialogues from the episodes, jazz trumpeters, speeches from different presidents and some weird shit about a maze and a girl with a lion mask. I Love it. Check out Terminal 7 by Stankò, it’s spectacular.

True Detective

I loved this series. Loved loved loved. Season 1, of course. Don’t make me talk about the second one because that was bullshit. But the first season blew my mind. And so did the main title. It’s not just the song that reminds us of that deep and rural southern part of the US, but the images. It’s creepy. Totally creepy. It’s called “Far From Any Road” by The handsome Family. There are disconnected scenes from the show, images blend together, they look like smoke and are see-through. The format has been used countless of times after this. I had never seen anything like it before. The song itself it terrifying and creepy but soooo good! It transports you into the show and moreover into the atmosphere of the place. AMAZING.

Game Of Thrones

Composed by the brilliant and talented Ramin Djawadi, “Game of Thrones” is a must. It’s epic, catchy and powerful. For an into, it’s soooooo long but if you even think about skipping it, you are no true Game of Thrones fan. Whenever I listen to it, I always feel like Khaleesi on her dragons trying to conquer Westeros. And this is only the main title. If you look up the entire soundtrack, it’s equally perfect. My personal favourites: season 6. Mind-blowing-ly beautiful. (Not sure that’s a word…)

The Affair

At first I was NOT into it. It was too weird. Even for me. I couldn’t understand the lyrics and the images were just confusing. A lot confusing. But after a while, it got into my head. And I fell in love with it. It’s sad and powerful. Knowing what happens on the show, the lyrics and the sequence of images is really intriguing. I love singing along to it when I’m home alone. It’s liberating. I definitely have to check out more songs by Fiona Apple.

Westworld

Even though I’m not a huge fan of the show (I finished it a couple of weeks ago and I wasn’t impressed), the music is obviously amazing. And why is it obviously amazing, you ask? Because it was written by the same composer of “Game of Thrones”, Ramin Djawadi. This man knows how to write amazing music to tv shows. Love him. The music is delicate but at the same time sad and scary. I noticed that this year, a lot of shows had a recurring theme: from the minuscule details to the big final picture, the figures moving in slow-motion and the black-and-white theme.

You’re The Worst

Aside from being one of my favourite shows of 2016, the intro of this series is adorable. It captures the essence of the characters and it’s fun. It’s a perfect song to dance around to and miles away from the previous gloomy ones. It’s pretty raw, not very will mixed but I love it. It makes me happy.

Suits

Suits has very particular music and an unbelievable catchy main title song. There is a lot of music from unknown artists and covers. It’s specific to every scene and always on point. There is soul, funk, R&B and blues with a pinch of jazz. It’s not something that you hear everyday. But the theme is just… Wow. It makes you want to bob your head up and down and dance. I love it.

HERE you can check out an interview with Gene Klein, producer of the show, Patrick J. Adams, Meghan Markle and Rick Hoffman about the music in the show.

Gilmore Girls

From episode 1, I fell in love with the theme. It’s so catchy, so happy, but to me, it brings back painful memories and suffering. This show destroyed me. Completely shattered me to pieces. But it’s such a good tune! You can sing along, dance around and for 3 minutes forget about everything and just think how quickly Jess stole your heart with his bad-boy attitude. I didn’t think I would have loved the show as much as I did. Carole King, you created an amazing song.

Sherlock, “The Game is On”

Yeah, sure, Sherlock’s main theme is nice. But not really the best. The tune that obviously stands out is “The Game is On”, Sherlock’s personal theme. I have learnt it with the piano but it’s not quite there yet. I need more practice. I love this tune… It’s basically Sherlock Holmes in music. And it’s catchy! I have spent more time than I want to admit, trying to carry the tune. Absolutely perfect. Congrats to David Arnold and Michael Price for composing it!

Doctor Who

I know… it may seem stupid, but it’s so catchy. And so unique. Since 1963 it has been a staple in British television culture. It’s so ridiculous and strange that it’s absolutely hilarious to sing a long. Especially off-tune. And it’s incredibly fascinating seeing how it was made in 1963. My friend and I love to sing it… there’s the dundundundun, dundundundun and the uhuuuihiiiiiiiiiuhuuuuu!!! How can you NOT sing alone!

Hope you liked this post! I have been obsessing over score music and soundtracks for a long time! I have Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and Doctor Who on my phone. And let’s just say it: Game of Thrones is depressing.

“Essentially, we need diversity because when we have it, it really makes a difference for everyone. And when we don’t have it, we as consumers have the power through our purchases or even a boycott to push for more diversity. But we mustn’t forget that diversity isn’t just about black or white it’s also about everyone in between.”

Nowmore than ever before, the West is seeing the rise of Indians and people of Indian heritage in Hollywood, and it’s glorious.

Priyanka Chopra. Photo: Instagram

Lately, the likes of Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Dev Patel, Lilly Singh, Mindy Kaling and Aziz Ansari have been taking the entertainment industry by storm. Back in 2012, Mindy Kaling paved the way for Indians on television, being the first Indian-American to create, produce and star in a television sitcom in ‘The Mindy Project.’ In 2016 Lilly Singh was ranked one the highest paid YouTube Stars by Forbes, and now has over 11 million subscribers #unicornisland.

This year Priyanka Chopra won her second consecutive People’s Choice Award for ‘Quantico’, Deepika Padukone is making her Hollywood debut in the movie ‘XXX: Return of Xander Cage’ also starring Vin Diesel, and Dev Patel’s movie ‘Lion’ has earned six Oscar nominations.

Having said this, seeing Indians on screen in the West hasn’t always been…